"Artifacts, Specimen, and Ephemera salvaged from the Wonderlands"

August 2, 2008 7:02 PM

Livejournal user absinthetic's girlfriend is having a birthday, so he made her a Wonderland Expedition Kit.
posted by Pope Guilty (60 comments total)

That is the best present I have ever seen. Ever.
posted by moxiedoll at 7:04 PM on August 2 [4 favorites]

Wow.

Nice use of the "fuckingawesome" tag as well.
posted by Locative at 7:05 PM on August 2

I'm not sure if we already have a fuckingawesome tag, but it seems like we should.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:06 PM on August 2 [1 favorite]

The cases on AlexCF's page linked in the livejournal post are beyond amazing.
posted by Pastabagel at 7:07 PM on August 2 [1 favorite]

This guy really loves his gal. What a cool thing to see let alone have all to yourself.
posted by nola at 7:08 PM on August 2

I have obviously never had a good boyfriend....ever....weeps with envy
posted by The Light Fantastic at 7:10 PM on August 2

Oh sure, NOW you love steampunk.

That's a lot of effort and love, right there.
posted by DU at 7:15 PM on August 2 [3 favorites]

Son of a bitch.
posted by puke & cry at 7:22 PM on August 2

If you enjoy this you may also enjoy the framed curio exhibits of Mefi's own MizMadame.
posted by Tube at 7:25 PM on August 2 [1 favorite]

It wasn't until after i had clicked the first link, then the second, and read down to the first picture that i realized that it didn't say Wonderbread.
posted by Stylus Happenstance at 7:26 PM on August 2

That's pretty fucking incredible.
posted by Caduceus at 7:28 PM on August 2

(Good ol' Miskatonic U.)
posted by Caduceus at 7:29 PM on August 2

If I were a billionaire with money to spare for an endowment, I'd totally found a Miskatonic University somewhere in New England.
posted by empath at 7:40 PM on August 2

Nothing I do for any young woman in my life will ever be able to add up to this, and that makes me feel unfit to breed, I got to tell you.
posted by Electrius at 7:41 PM on August 2

So that's what a box of win looks like..
posted by cowbellemoo at 7:41 PM on August 2 [17 favorites]

Wonderful!
posted by blaneyphoto at 7:44 PM on August 2

I bought my ex girlfriend the annotated Alice in Wonderland for valentine's day one year, does that count?
posted by empath at 7:53 PM on August 2

Wonderful, but why Miskatonic University, where the Necronomicon and Cthulhu were found?
posted by orthogonality at 7:54 PM on August 2

I, for one, plan to shamelessly copy this idea!
posted by Hollow at 7:56 PM on August 2

This is awesome, but it could be even more awesome if the "Eat Me" and "Drink Me" bottles are dosed.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 8:00 PM on August 2 [1 favorite]

Ridiculously creative! What a cool find. I love all the little touches.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 8:05 PM on August 2

Dude is getting SO laid. That is an awesome gift of love.
posted by not_on_display at 8:10 PM on August 2

I've got no idea what she looks like, but I'm enjoying imagining his girlfriend's facial expressions as she took this in. I'd sketch them out here but I don't think emoticons quite do them justice.
posted by melissa may at 8:13 PM on August 2

At first I was all "An LJ link? On MeFi? What th... wow... oh now that's amazing..."

What an original and neat concept!
posted by thatbrunette at 8:23 PM on August 2

Awesomest.
posted by homunculus at 8:26 PM on August 2

This is completely amazing. LOVE.
posted by mewithoutyou at 8:26 PM on August 2

That's a nice box of weird, but a typewritten label from 1867 is quite unlikely.
posted by RogerB at 8:28 PM on August 2 [4 favorites]

Yegads...
How does someone do that and have a job and a life.
awesome.
posted by jcworth at 8:36 PM on August 2

Makes me think of the nuclear suitcase story.
posted by eritain at 9:30 PM on August 2

That is fantastic, what an awesome idea, and outstanding execution.
She will be FLOORED, bet.
posted by gemmy at 10:10 PM on August 2

That's a dangerously disproportionate amount of awesome to concentrate on a single livejournal page. If awesome were mass, this page would outweigh the rest of LJ, all of which would would abruptly collapse around and into this page, resulting in a black hole. Of awesome.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:17 PM on August 2 [4 favorites]

What if the indigenous beings of Wonderland demand the return of their looted cultural heritage?
posted by longsleeves at 10:32 PM on August 2

George_Spiggott: Wow, so besides being awesome on it's own, this page could get rid of the rest of LJ for us? Chuck Norris wishes he were this guy!
posted by jacalata at 10:43 PM on August 2

Weak at the knees.
posted by johannahdeschanel at 11:28 PM on August 2

I have obviously never had a good boyfriend....ever...

Seriously.

Any man who took that kind of effort to make me something? Marriage. Absofuckinglutely. Marriage. You just don't get any better than someone who will take the insane amount of time and energy that would have taken just to put a smiled on your loved one's face.

Does he happen to have a cute gay brother maybe?
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:29 PM on August 2

Wow, so besides being awesome on it's own, this page could get rid of the rest of LJ for us?

Y'know, this totally fucking puerile LJ hate is wearing just a wee bit thin.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:32 PM on August 2 [3 favorites]

And you lose just a tad of your argument when you can't even use 'its' properly.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:33 PM on August 2

And I shouldn't hit "Post Comment" so quickly
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:33 PM on August 2

And you should get over yourself? I have an LJ. It's still funny to me. GYOFJoke if you don't like this one.
posted by jacalata at 12:25 AM on August 3

fuckingawesome indeed
posted by slimepuppy at 1:39 AM on August 3

Aw. I used to produce things (about a tenth as elaborate -- still substantial) like this for my first girlfriend. A long time ago in a place now far away.

I'm thinking she burned it all.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 1:52 AM on August 3 [1 favorite]

I bought my ex girlfriend the annotated Alice in Wonderland for valentine's day one year, does that count?

I re-wrote Alice in Wonderland and added my girlfriend (now wife) in as a major character but, yeah, this is pretty awesome.
posted by vacapinta at 1:56 AM on August 3 [2 favorites]

A+++. WOULD FALL DOWN THIS RABBIT HOLE AGAIN.
posted by allkindsoftime at 3:13 AM on August 3

Now, to win the internet, you must lug it onboard an airplane and risk all manner of tazerplay from TSA goons who can't find Mome Rath on the flyable substance list.
posted by kid ichorous at 3:56 AM on August 3

Fucking art geniuses. Ruining the curve for the rest of us.
posted by brevator at 4:44 AM on August 3

I'm having a birthday today too, and all I got was a pizza.

Then again, I fuckin love pizza.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:20 AM on August 3 [1 favorite]

Fuck jewelry, I want art. Art gifts are awesome. The world needs more art gifts. Pizza's pretty good too.
posted by bobobox at 7:46 AM on August 3

All right, I'll admit it's pretty cool, but it's also creepy. C'mon, the mummified caterpillar? The teeth? The mome rath?
posted by graventy at 8:06 AM on August 3

That mome rath did not outgrabe.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:34 AM on August 3 [1 favorite]

He's going to have his work cut out for him trying to top that next year...
posted by Patapsco Mike at 11:10 AM on August 3

Look what I made for you, baby! You can come over and look at it any time you'd like!
posted by Citizen Premier at 12:19 PM on August 3

This is the same very talented guy who built a time machine for Halloween.
posted by svolix at 12:53 PM on August 3

Unbelievably cool. The caterpillar was amazing!
posted by lysistrata at 4:19 PM on August 3

Someone is not very happy, and MeFi is mentioned.
posted by Liosliath at 8:36 PM on August 3 [1 favorite]

That fucking Salvador Dali, with his painting! Doesn't he know that cavemen in Lascaux invented that?
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:00 PM on August 3 [1 favorite]

And as hard as I try, I’m sorry to say that I simply cannot see an aura, or any blood, sweat & tears in your Wonderland Expedition Kit, Ryan.

YOUR AURA IS MISSING BUDDY. BTW, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE INSPIRED BY ANYTHING EVER, except since this is a very logical exception, Alex CF gets to use the Cthulhu mythos no problem.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:53 PM on August 3

And as hard as I try, I’m sorry to say that I simply cannot see an aura, or any blood, sweat & tears in your Wonderland Expedition Kit, Ryan.

On one hand, this guy did clearly (and admittedly) lift his entire m.o. from existing artwork - not just the gross premise of building a ramshackle time box out of literary fiction, but the fine details as well. If these images were making the rounds online as the work of a lone art genius, it would be fair for the author of the originals to advertise his own role in the creation, if not in such a dickish way. He isn't a Viacom, wielding all the latest in obscene copyright standards; he's a tradesman appealing to what most authors and artists have long recognized as a matter of good form. Overwhelmingly derivative works should be presented to the public with credit to their sources.

...on the other hand, absinthetic already acknowledged his debt and paid his due diligence:

She's a big fan of Alice in Wonderland, and we were awe-struck by the incredibly well-crafted and detailed creations of AlexCF, so I combined the two.

So I'm not sure where all this auras and blood stuff comes in... unless of course she's been at this neo-Victorian internet pageantry for so long that she's finally converted from Anglican to gypsy. Won't mother be proud. Also, these Steampunk hipsters always make me hungry for Arcanum, where my mad half-orc chemist can really cut loose and knock their fancy tophats into the mud. The nerve of that chap.
posted by kid ichorous at 3:22 AM on August 4

Good artists create, great artists steal.

Creating art should always be an inventive process, it's work, it's pain, it's sweat, it's being frustrated, breaking down in tears, banging one's head against a wall, it means being too hard on oneself, it means throwing things around the room and starting all over again, but never giving up creating and inventing.

Buddy, you're doing it wrong.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:14 AM on August 4 [1 favorite]

Pain, sweat and frustration my foot. These tchotchkes are charming. It certainly raises the bar for future loved one's gifts. I've just passed what seems to be the birthday season and I got everyone books (lame). I'm swinging between a miffed "gee thanks" to this guy for raising the threshold of awesomeness so, and being glad that people sit down and make neat, intricate stuff for each other. More the latter.

so glad we have a fuckingawesome tag around
posted by eponymouse at 10:30 AM on August 4

Buddy, you're doing it wrong.

Yes, but I think what we have here is actually a groupie rather than an artist - someone who doesn't work as an artist, but admires and hangs around artists and puts the artistic/creative process up on a pedestal to be worshipped and served.

Artists sometimes have these kinds of militant ownership views too, but from my observation they mostly come from artists who are not very good or very original, or are one-trick-ponies, and so more easily feel threatened.
posted by -harlequin- at 1:53 PM on August 4